The invention relates to a vertical pedal-operated vehicle provided with a pair of pedals that can be moved up and down vertically by the driver""s weight in a reciprocating operation manner.
Diversified pedal-operated vehicles in different constructions have been proposed and illustrated since several decades ago. However, at least one or more drawbacks are found in each of the mentioned constructions, in which an obvious common defect is that all the pedals are seemed incapable of moving up and down vertically and exactly to fully meet the driver""s requirements.
Therefore, the invention is to provide a real vertical pedal-operated vehicle, on which a driver can stand uprightly and use his/her own weight to depress the pedals up and down stably without needing any driver""s extra force, such that a relaxative physical exercise is performable unknowingly. Furthermore, it is possible to make the vertical pedal-operated vehicle compact or foldable for being stuffed and stored in a car""s rear baggage compartment for promoting its usage scope.
A vertical pedal-operated vehicle of the invention is composed of a frame, a handlebar, a central frame member, a front wheel, a pair of rear wheels, and a pair of pedals. A rack is disposed under each pedal and connected thereto respectively, in which each rack is engaged with a ratchet-typed freewheel with one-way clutch, and those two ratchet-typed freewheels with one-way clutch and a main driving gear are together connected to a driving shaft.
When a driver is applying his/her own weight at the first time to the vertical pedal-operated vehicle by treading his/her left foot on the left pedal for example, the right pedal is uplifted in the meanwhile with respect to the sinking left pedal. Consequently, the left rack under the left pedal is depressed downwardly to transmit torque to the left ratchet-typed freewheel with one-way clutch to drive the main driving shaft and accordingly the main driving gear to rotate in a same rotational direction such that the torque is further passed to the pair of rear wheels via a transmission mechanism for driving the vehicle to go forwards.
When the driver treads the second time the right pedal with his/her right foot and at the moment the right pedal is sinking while the left pedal is uplifted, the right rack is driven to displace downwardly and transmit the torque to the right ratchet-typed freewheel with one-way clutch so as to actuate the main driving shaft and accordingly the main driving gear to rotate in a first rotational direction such that the torque is transmitted to the pair of rear wheels via the transmission mechanism for keeping the vehicle go forwards.
At the very moment the left pedal is depressed to sink, the right rack under the uplifting right pedal and connected thereto is displaced upwardly however without transmitting the torque to its engaged right ratchet-typed freewheel with one-way clutch, which hence doesn""t substantially impede the rotation of the main driving shaft. And it is also true in the case of depressing the right pedal, thus the vertical pedal-operated vehicle of the invention can be driven forwards stably in an easy way that even a layman who hasn""t yet ridden a bicycle can handle it.
For more detailed information regarding advantages or features of the invention, at least an example of preferred embodiment will be fully described below with reference to the annexed drawings.